A History Of Blue Note Records: 1952

Lou Donaldson Quartet – June 20 1952

Leonard Feather – Liner Notes: Lou Donaldson – New Faces – New Sounds – BLP 5021 – 1952

THE indirect impact of World War II on the entertainment world and its members produced many remarkable results. Not the least of these was the number of new musicians who emerged as stars as a result of their training while in orchestras of the armed forces.

Lou Donaldson was one of these musicians. It was in the Navy, while he was still in his teens, that he learned to play saxophone; it was while he was stationed at Great Lakes that he started to dig Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie while in Chicago on a pass; it was here that he acquired his orientation in the direction of bop and formulated the style you hear on these selections.

Born in Badin, N. C. in 1926, son of a preacher and a music teacher, Lou studied music first with his mother, took up the clarinet at 15, the year he entered Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, N. C. He returned to this college after his Navy stint, and when Dizzy's band played a dance in Greensboro one night, Lou sat in with the band; Dizzy complimented him and advised him to come to New York.

Lou came here in 1950 and completed a course at the Darrow Institute of Music. He worked with combos at Minton's, Birdland, Le Downbeat and the Paradise, jammed with such men as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt. He met Horace Silver at a rehearsal studio one day and they struck up a friendship that has produced the mutually beneficial results heard on this LP.

Lou is married and has two children; this means that he has been obliged to make a living by playing a brand of music much more "commercial" than the genuine and exciting solos he recorded for Blue Note.

The eight numbers presented here were made at two sessions a few months apart. At one of these dates a promising trumpet man from Earl Bostic's band, Blue Mitchell, was added, but for the most part the spotlight is on Lou, with occasional time out for some excellent Silver sounds at the keyboard.

Though his main influences have clearly been Diz and Bird, Lou has enough individual personality to make it obvious to any trained ear that he has outgrown mere imitation. His alto style combines fluency and resourcefulness with a biting, distinctive tone quality.

His choice of material is well balanced. There are two simple excursions on the traditional 12-bar blues (Down Home, Lou's Blues); two Silver originals (Sweet Juice and the haunting Roccus); two familiar standards (Best Things In Life and Cheek to Cheek); and two old songs that are slightly less familiar.

It is in the second choruses of Best Things and Cheek to Cheek, after he has outlined the melody with only slight variations in the first chorus, that Lou's improvisational talent reaches its peak. At least, those were the passages that happened to impress me most; but the quality and variety of his work is so impressive overall that there will be many different "favorite solo" choices among the fans who listen to this remarkable collection.

Lou Donaldson
Photo by Francis Wolff

Leonard Feather – Liner Notes: Lou Donaldson – Quartet/Quintet/Sextet - BLP 1537 – February 1952

EVER since the dark day when the news of Charlie Parker’s death reached out to shock the jazz world and rob it of its reigning modern solo genius, the race has been on to nominate an heir to the throne. Every aspiring alto saxophonist lucky enough to acquire a record company to sponsor him has been acclaimed as “the new Charlie Parker”; since it would be almost impossible to play modern jazz on the alto sax without showing some degree of Parker influence, this has left the court wide open for big kings, little kings, and pretenders to the crown.

In all this indecent haste to grab Charlie Porkers royal robes virtually from the grove, one talent hos been overlooked, largely because it was right there, growing alongside Bird during his own lifetime, and firmly established, at least among the musicians and fans who had heard him in the east, for several years before Charlie’s passing. This artist, now saluted in his first 12-inch LP, is the remarkable Lou Donaldson.

Lou’s Blues, another 12-bar excursion, is based on a riff theme, with a rhumba rhythm employed in the opening chorus. Lou and Horace Silver show a sympathetic entente cordiale while Gene Ramey and Art Taylor back them up admirably.

Cheek to Cheek, with its lengthy chorus and unusual construction, provides another happy jumping-off point, developed by Lou along similar lines to The Best Things in Life Are Free.

Roccus, another Silver original, has an Oriental flavor and Latin rhythm touches with Horace playing a second line to give the impression of a two-horn ensemble, though actually Lou has nothing but the rhythm section with him on this performance.

5021-5031 from Alfred Lion's notebook

Richard Cook - Blue Note Records – Secker and Warburg 2001 pp 53

Donaldson was another who would figure in the label's 'New Faces - New Sounds' series, and in June the saxophonist cut four titles with Horace Silver, bassist Gene Ramey and drummer Art Taylor. In many ways, Donaldson was the archetypal Blue Note saxophonist. He never felt that jazz developed very far beyond the work of Charlie Parker, an opinion he cheerfully holds to this day, and as a Bird disciple he was a worthy follower. Unfailingly spry and energetic in his playing, he had a tart, cutting tone that found a surprising elegance on ballads, while his affinity with blues playing soaks through most of his work. His book featured a rock-solid choice of standards, blues and jazz tunes that were easy-going enough to appeal to any casual jazz audience. Donaldson was no slouch - his appearance with Monk proved that - but he wasn’t one to carry the torch of innovation.

Down Beat 28 January 1953 Volume 20 Issue 2 Horace Silver, Gene Ramey, and Arthur Taylor support Lou in a very simple but infectious blues riff, well developed with solos by Lou and Horace. The pretty standard overleaf has Lou hewing fairly close to the melody line, to good effect. (Blue Note 1599.)

Notes etc.

Horace Silver’s first Blue Note session. He would record his first date as leader on October 9 of the same year.

Lou Donaldson’s first date as leader